Sharad Pawar likely to file nomination for Rajya Sabha election

Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, who has ruled himself out of electoral politics, is likely to file his nomination for the biennial Rajya Sabha election.

The Election Commission announced the election schedule for the Upper House of Parliament yesterday.

There are seven seats of Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra whose term expires on April 2.

NCP has two retiring members Y P Trivedi and Janardhan Waghmare.

NCP sources said the two members may be replaced by new faces, which includes Sharad Pawar himself.

Early this month, Pawar declared that he will not seek re-election to the Lok Sabha from Maadha constituency and instead would be in the Rajya Sabha as biennial elections are scheduled soon.

The notification for the polls will be issued on January 21. Last date of filing of nomination is January 28. The scrutiny of papers will be done on January 29 and the last date of withdrawal of papers is January 31. The date of poll and counting is scheduled for February 7.

Congress has yet to decide on whether it would renominate sitting MPs Hussain Dalwai and Murli Deora. The other retiring members include BJP spokesman Prakash Javdekar and Shiv Sena's Bharatkumar Raut and Rajkumar Dhoot.

RPI's Ramdas Athavale, who is an ally of the Sena-BJP, has claimed that he has been assured a Rajya Sabha seat from the saffron quota. Shiv Sena is yet to take a decision on the issue.